Alex Tizon is coming to interview for a job at the J school. He's been a reporter for the Seattle Times and the Seattle bureau chief for the LA Times. Along the way, his writing and reporting have won a passel of prizes, including a Pulitzer in 1997 for exposing fraud in an American Indian housing program.
He's done some fantastic work, evidence of his ability to create opportunities, to know when they present themselves, and to be ready to seize it however it is that opportunity comes calling.
Online, he's fond of saying, "Most big achievements happen when great effort intersects with good luck. I've worked hard, and I've been lucky, which is another way of saying that I've been blessed."
Other bits of advice I find attributed to Tizon may reveal a bit about the personality behind the practice of being blessed:
"Go into dark places and write about them." He made a name for himself covering gangs, race and ethnicity, immigrants and immigration and Native American issues.
"Relax. Don't be a perfectionist." This may be something every person who imagines perfection has to be told from time to time. Chip Scanlon wrote about Tizon's report on the mood of America after 9/11. What may interest you most is Tizon's technique: He gave himself about eight hours to arrive in a town, find, report and write a story. Every day, for two weeks.
"Read, read, read. Think, think, think. Write, write, write." These are things all reporters must do to be ready to do their job. Things that too many fail to take the time for.
Alex Tizon is scheduled to meet with journalism students at 2:15 on Tues. Dec. 2. Probably in 401. Please make it a point to come talk with a great journalist, one who might just be teaching here next year.
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